Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger's Resident Evil arrives in theaters this weekend, and the movie looks set to take a sizable bite out of the box office.
According to the latest estimates, Sony Pictures' survival horror video game reboot should take in a strong $40 million to $50 million in its domestic debut, though independent tracking services believe that sales will be closer to $50M - $60M, with a potential global bow of $80M+.
Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and with a Certified Fresh 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, RE has become the top-rated live-action video game adaptation of all time on the aggregator.
Resident Evil just beats The Last of Us season 1 and Fallout season 2, both ranked at 96%, but the animated Arcane season 2 has a perfect 100% score.
Resident Evil won't have much in the way of competition this weekend, but next Friday brings Paramount’s Brad Pitt-led survival thriller, Heart of the Beast, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island, and A24’s Primetime starring Robert Pattinson. There's also the small matter of Marvel Studios' Avengers Endgame: Encore.
Cregger has had some pushback from fans for ditching the characters and established storylines from the games.
"I feel like I had a clear idea of what would be my favorite Resident Evil movie and I was lucky enough to have a studio that gave me the resources to make it,” the filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter at the L.A. premiere on Tuesday. “I felt pretty confident. We’ll see, maybe I’m delusional but I don’t think so. I’ve seen the movie and I like it.”
You can check out our review here.
From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.
The cast also includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser. Cregger directs from a screenplay he wrote with Shay Hatten, and producers include Robert Kulzer, Zach Cregger, Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, Carter Swan, and Asad Qizilbash. The executive producers are Oliver Berben, Victor Hadida, Richard Wright, and Robert Bernacci.
Resident Evil is set to be released in theaters on September 18. Do you plan on seeing this one on the big screen?